Beware The Batman: Secrets Review

Batman is hot on the heels of an extremely clever and dangerous thief named Magpie, who not only sports razor sharp talons laced with poison and an invulnerability to pain, but she also steals the memories of her victims. But Batman is not the only one on her trail. Lt. James Gordon is after her as well….and the two will ultimately go head-to-head to catch that thief.

After the opening credits, we get a recap of the previous episode before going straight into the current one. Batman is chasing a thief named Magpie who has just stolen the memories of a former worker at Blackgate Penitentiary.

After a brief battle, Magpie escapes and Batman begins to investigate the mind manipulation programme that happened at Blackgate. Meanwhile Lieutenant James Gordon is also on the case and after having breakfast with his daughter (Barbara Gordon, the future Batgirl) Gordon goes out in search of Lunkhead another member of Blackgate who participated in the mind manipulation programme.

After another battle Batman is strapped into the mind manipulation machine with Magpie saying she will wipe Batman’s mind. Freeing himself Batman rushes after Magpie bumping into Gordon on the way. After freeing a psychiatrist who also worked at Blackgate Batman gives chase and finally captures Magpie who due to the programme has split personalities. Gordon thanks Batman for his help but warns him that the next time they cross paths again he will arrest him.

The episode ends with Bruce in the BatCave watching Katana looking at the entrance of the BatCave in Bruce’s library.

This episode like the pilot focuses more on the detective side of Batman. Interestingly, the episode also shows that James Gordon has similar detective skills to Batman which have been lacking in some previous version (Gordon hardly appeared in Batman: The Brave And The Bold for instance) making him less of a Lestrade and more of an equal to Batman.

Magpie’s split personalities seem similar to that of Two Face though perhaps lacking in the complexity of Two Face’s individual split personalities. If the character returns, which I’m sure she will, I would hope that the good side of the character is shown more so that we can see more of an internal struggle within the character. Magpie also has a resemblance to Catwoman and shows obvious attraction towards The Dark Knight which makes the character even more interesting. Is the criminal Magpie attracted to Batman or is it the good side of Margaret Sorrow? This would be an interesting plot point to examine when the character returns.

Beware The Batman, Secrets demonstrates how important identity is. Without knowing her own identity, apparently for her own good, Magpie goes insane and commits crimes in an attempt to regain it. Batman hides his identity to protect himself and his friends from harm. The message of this story really is that you should protect your freedom and identity at all costs.